Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-06
IMPORTANCE OF FORESTS
Woodmau Spare That Tree and Plant
Zen Where You Would
Fell One.
The Effect of Forests on Rainfall-Why
Not Have an Arbor Day
for Texas?

third state of the relation of man to for
ests; a stage when he finds that this tree
covering of the lands is necessary for the
maintenance of those conditions OF eli
mate and timber-supply on which the
utility of the earth to him in good part
depends. The front1ersman, that essence
of the practical man, is still slayer of
woods, and believes that he serves the
god of progress by the sacrifice of the for
est. But as knowledge advances, the
thoughtful classes become more and more
concerned as to the conditions OF this
earth during the centuries to come, WREN
this swift advancing ruin of our woods
shall have been completed. Most persons
will heartily agree that it is our bounden
duty to transmit the inheritance which
we enjoy In the earth unimpaired to the
generations yet to be. 1t is, unhappily,
impossible for US SO to manage the store
of utilities which the earth affords that
there shall be no dIminutiOn Of the sup
ply for ages to come. 1t is probable that
the supply Of coal will in good part have
disappeared by the year 5000; and in the
fourth millenial period OF our era, time
less remote in the future than the birth
of Christ in the past, the metals now in
use will have to be won with great dltt1-
cuIty-if obtained at all. Still we may
trust the advance of knowledge and skill
to compensate for these losses; solar
energy may be trusted to afford heat and
aluminium to take the place of iron; and
the world may be the better for the
change which forced TustleSS metal and
a dustless fuel into use-at any rate, We
see that the supply of mineral resources
of the earth necessary for our successors
may be prolonged for time in the future
which is long beyond our power to con-
ceive.
| It is otherwise with the sOil-coverlng
j of the earth's surface. So far as we can
see, that is the least enduring and the
| least replacable of any Of those features
on which the life Of the earth depends.
| 1t is the harvest of the ages; and once
| lost, it cannot be supplied except by the
cons Of time. The most serious mis-
! fortune connected with the reckless
destruction of our forests arises from
the loss Of the soil from large areas
| of land, by which regions nSEur-
ally fertile have been conyerteG into
deserts of irremediable sterilitys
Already large part OF many fertile re-
gions have been sterllized in this fashions
and each year larger portion OF this in
finitely precious heritage Of life slips into
the rivers, and finds It's way to the sea,
because we have deprived it OF the pro-
tecting coating Of vegetation. Therefore,
it is not alone on sccount of the surpass-
ing Intellectual interest that forests pre-
sent to Us, but also from the gravest
reasons of economy, that they deserve to
be attentively studied.
& FORESTS AND RAINFALL.
The, tangle of decayea vegetation
which covers the ground beneath the
forests Of considerable thickness, On
top5ft consists altogether of the decayeC
thinks, branches, and leaves, but i
FtshSdes downward into ordinary dark
rcolored soil at the depth of few fee
from the surface. This, the decay
zone of the forest, lies between the
boughs of the air and the branches OF
the roots In it go on the mos
important actions which take plac'
in our forests-actions which affect tn
history of land and sea. We shall there
fore have to consider it in sOmeWha
painstsking way. The most evident ef
feet of this sheet of decaying wood, ant
moss which feeds on the decay, is on th'
} rainfall Of the region which it mantles
, When, after q season of drought, copi
Gus rain falls upon this spongy mass, tn
water is for a long time absorbed in tn
ipterstices, and does not flow to the riv
2 ers. Even in times of very heavy raj
the water is slowly yielded to tn
y streams; after g dry period OF man
weeks this sponge retains a good shar
= of water. A like amount of rain fallin
\ on titled fields or prairies slips quick
away to the rivers and thence to the SEE
:, The first result IS that when the land
:, destitute of forests it sheds water liz
/. house roofs, breeding floods after ever
considerable rain, while IN the forest
., the .ain is only slowly yielded 70 th
J streams &ik
A second aud legs evident result Of tn
v spongy character of the forest bed is 1ba
t. by hiudering the escape Of the rain Wahs
+ to the rivers, it increases the acpals raii
e fall of the country. To dee the nstul
h and Importance of this action, we mus
sc turn aside for .moment:tg consider tb
origin of the raff which, falls upon tt
land. The origfnal 8ouree az this waite
supply IS the ssa,. which 4Fsend$ 3if1to tt
land = tolefa ysre Oar annual store {
: moisture. Wtfsi thisafaIls as rain {
5 snow; eitSer 1.-TWO things may happen
al the watersaaYsgp away directly to tt
sea, or it lnay gsturn to the stmosphel
as vaporSo bessgsin precipitated as rail-
The change OF It's re-evsporatiou is d
3 termineEby the ed with which it tlov
is TO the sdeams. From q tree.ess regiC
10 it rapidly escapes; in an extensive di
10 10 trict of virgin forest it may again al
* againpass from earth to air, and from a
to eSfth.
Il HE columns of vapor, whichIin tim
of summer rain may be seen aScendil
from every greatswood, afford wish
~ evidence of the effect of forests {
rainfall, They also show the observ
some Of the most beautiful phenomel
of atmospheric circulation. In a sui
, mer, rain shower the air above t
y, Trees becomes much cooler than it
"a the recesses below their tents
5S1oliage. This heated air with
4, ssthe wood seeks TO rise, and esc1p
Sd in great columns wherever the
q is wide gap between the branches;
s soon as 1t attains the cooler level aboE
j the moisture is condensed andIfhe a
4 before transparent, becomes chaEged wi
B ,stezsf. To replace isascendng air
as broad current drifts togtFd thsssmerg
streams of vaborT cotl9o yF rom
: higher parts okthe fordst Rhsfe the q
owing to the elsFaton fpfethe site,
y cooler than Id the l6W9r leafs
s This repeSted passage Of the motstr
from earth to cloud,xahd from cloud
!, earth, greatly lncrsases the amount
: force which the raimapplies, in it's fail
e drops toSfhe earth's surface; but the ra
vegetat4on protects the surface from
erosi6G which it would otherwise bri
. abCdS. Even the forest-clad hillsides
I ffAe Cumberland mountains, where 4
! soil lies on declivities of great steepne
= suffer little wear as long as their natu
= protection is left to them. But as so
AhIrr CIR II 10 QI1f